Oleg Breslavtsev/Moment/Getty Images As the oldest kid in my family, I’ve always held a bit of resentment towards people who permanently treat the youngest sibling in the family as the baby. You know, the ones who were coddled for the majority of their lives – forever seen as cute and without the same expectation and responsibility as their siblings. So when I became a mother I vowed to avoid this parenting trap. I promised to treat my youngest just as I had treated their siblings before them. Well, today my youngest is a 4 year old curly-haired, blonde ball of...
We Really Need To Change The Way We Talk About Tearing In Childbirth
TikTok When I told friends that my son was born via emergency c-section after more than 18 hours of hard labor, it didn’t take long for one of them to say the thing. Some of you already know what that is based on your own experiences. Others might have guessed. For those of you who haven’t, it was this “classic”: “Well at least you didn’t have to ruin your vagina!” For reasons I don’t quite understand, some people are extremely preoccupied with the state of one’s vagina after birth, and TikTok creator Jordan Simone (@jordxn.simone), like many of us, is...
Former Bully Shares How Her Mom Taught Her Empathy
TikTok As a parent, I almost don’t know which would be worse: finding out your child is being bullied or finding out that they are a bully. On the one hand, being bullied as a child can affect a person for the rest of their life. In extreme cases, bullying can even lead to self-harm and suicide. But I feel like, as a parent, you might have an easier time helping a child through being bullied than knowing what to do if you find out your child is the bully. Recently, TikTok user @absurdoblivion, who refers to herself as Steph,...
Kids, Costco & The Online Debate About Whether They Should Go
bruceman/iStock Unreleased/Getty Images Every few months, it seems we get a new, semi-viral screed against children. Specifically, whether children belong in public spaces. It usually goes like this: someone gets annoyed by a crying baby or rambunctious toddler on a plane (a classic), grocery store, brewery, and, I kid you not, pumpkin patches. Recently, TikTok user Brightlyn (@brightynsletten) issued her own edict against kids in Costco (though she is hardly the first). “Why do we have to go to Costco with the whole family?” she asked in a now deleted video. “Why is mom, dad, and three frickin’ kids here?”...